Rights group: Barring women’s event recalls Berlin Games

NEW YORK (JTA) — A Jewish human rights organization recalled the 1936 Berlin Olympics in slamming the International Olympic Committee for barring female ski jumpers from the Winter Games.

The League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada said the decision to have a men’s ski jumping event only recalled the ’36 Games, when the IOC turned a blind eye to Nazi Germany’s discriminatory policies against Jews.

Ruth Klein, the rights group’s national director, qualified the comparison by saying that she considered the IOC’s decision to be a violation of women’s rights.

"There is no suggestion that the exclusion of women by the Committee is the same as the exclusion of the Jews in 1936, but if you look back at the history — the corporate history — then this is a matter of concern," Klein told JTA.

The IOC claimed women’s ski jumping was not developed enough to have it included in the XXI Winter Olympics, which are being held Feb. 12-28 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Committee members chose to ignore an overwhelming vote by the International Ski Federation calling for female ski jumping to be included in the Games.